Apparatus and method for handling and pitting prunes

ABSTRACT

A prune pitter which utilizes the pitting chuck conveyor also as the pickup or feed conveyor, the pickup portion of said conveyor having associated therewith means for selectively adjusting the size of the prune pickup pockets in order to prevent the entry into any one of such pockets of more than one prune, said pickup portion of the conveyor having also associated therewith means for preventing the conveying of nonpocketed fruit to the pitting portion of the conveyor.

United States Patent I Inventors Appl, No.

Filed Patented Assignee John L. Margaroli Oakland;

Fred J. Cimperman, San Lorenzo, Calif. 773,447

Nov. 5, 1968 Jan. 19, 1971 George W. Ashlock Company San Leandro, Calif.

a corporation of California APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR HANDLING ANDPITTING PRUNES 4 Claims, 8 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 198/33 Int. Cl B65g 47/24 Field of Search, l98/ 13]; 146/17, 27,244, (Inquired) [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,265,51512/1941 Carroll 2,815,622 12/1957 Barrett 3,153,473 10/1964 Margaroli3,469,612 9/1969 Margaroli FOREIGN PATENTS 3 92,110 3/1924 GermanyPrimary ExaminerEdward A. Sroka Att0rney-Naylor & Neal l98/33(R1)198/33(R1) 198/33(Rl) conveyor.

APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR HANDLING AND FITTING PRUNES SUMMARY OF THEINVENTION Ashlock US. Pat. No. 2,688,352 discloses fruit-pittingapparatus adapted for the pitting of prunes and dates. The. apparatusdescribed therein comprises. a feed conveyor, described in more detailin Ashlock US. Pat. No. 2,630,205, which forms a moving bottom wall'of afruit supply hopper and is provided with fruit pickup pockets adapted toreceive the fruit with the major axes horizontally disposed. The feedconveyor transfers the fruit to the pocketsof a-pitting conveyor so thattheir major axes are vertically disposed, the pitting conveyor pocketsbeing provided with fruit-gripping members adapted to be movedtogetherto position and hold the fruit for pitting and to then moveapart to release the pitted fruit for discharge from the machine.

The subject matter hereof consists of improvements in the describedprior art apparatus. One such improvement is the utilization of thepitting conveyor as the feed conveyor. The fruit are picked up withtheir major axes vertically disposed within the conveyor pockets.

A further improvement over the described prior art apparatus resides inproviding the fruit pickup reach of the conveyor with means forselectively spacing apart the fruitgripping members so as to prevent theentry of more than one fruit into a pocket.

Still a further improvement over the described prior art apparatusresides in the provision of new and improved means for sweeping thefruit pickup reach of the conveyor to insure that nonpocketed fruit arenot conveyed out of the hopper area.

The results of these improvements are: the overall length of the subjectprune-pitting machine is reduced to the order of about half of thelength of the described prior art fruit pitter;

and the percentage of conveyor pockets occupied by prunes to be pittedis substantially increased over that obtainable with l the describedprior art apparatus.

THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation, partially broken awayand sectionalized, of the improved prune pitting apparatus of theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a view in section taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a fruit conveyor pocket, the fruitgrippingmembers of the pocket being shown in dotted outline in their farthestapart position;

FIG. 4 is a view similar ,to that of FIG. '3, but showing thefruit-gripping members for the pocket in' a more closely spacedposition, i.e., such as to prevent the entry into the pocket of morethan one fruit or prune;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to that of FIG. 4, but showing the grippingmembers of the pocket in a still closer together position, i.e., in afruit-gripping position;

FIG. 6 is a plan view, partly in section, of a complete fruit holderunit;

FIG. 7 is a view in section taken along line7-7 of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a view in section taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 7.

With reference to the drawings, the subject machine comprises a supportframe including legs 10 and sideplates 12, a

hopper 14 formed of a pair of sidewalls 16 and an endwall 18, a hood 20supported above the upper end of the hopper and adapted to house awater-spray system, a pitting head housing 22 supporting motor 24 andspeed reducer'26, drive means 28 by said wheels.

the pocket conveyor, which forms a moving bottom wall for hopper l4, andthe horizontally disposed upper or pitting reach of the conveyor, a pairof paddle wheels rotatably mounted at the upper end of the pickup reachof the pocket conveyor and adapted to be rotated in a clockwisedirection, as viewed in FIG. I, by drive means 40, and a vibratormechanism indicated generally at 42 adapted to impart a rapidoscillatory movement to the guide rails for the upwardly inclined reachof thepocket conveyor.

Each fruit holder 36:comprises an upper plate 44, a lower plate 46, endmembers 48 interconnecting plates 44 and 46, rods 50 and 52 slidablysupported by end members 48, roller carrier 54 secured to rod 50 andadapted to slide on rod 52, roller carrier 56 secured to rod 52 andadapted to slide on rod 50, pocket wall members 58 attached to rod 50,pocket wall members 60 attached to rod 52, springs 62 and 64 which urgethe roller'carriers 54 and 56 away from theend members 48 and tend tomaintain the outermost of the pocket defining members 58 and 60 inengagement with end members 48, a roller 66 carried by roller carrier54, and a roller 68 carried-by roller carrier 56.

Removably mounted in lower plate 46 are pitting cups in dicatedgenerally by'70, said cups being formed of a suitable flexible materialsuch as rubber, being adapted to support prunes in'an uprightposition'for pitting, and having pit ejection openings 72.

Upper plate 44 is formed with funnellike openings 74 for guidance of theprunes into pockets'defined by said openings 74, by the upper ends ofthe cups 70, and by the opposed sidewall members 58 and 60.

Means are provided to insure that prunes do not become lodged or wedgedin generally horizontal positions within the funnellike openings 74 ofthe pockets, said means comprising arcuate recesses 76 formed in plate36 at the leading and trailing sides of the pockets, said recesses beingadapted to be swept by the complementally formed protuberances 78 formedon the paddle elements of paddle wheels 38. The paddle elements of eachwheel are flexible. The wheels are rotated at a rate on the order ofabout 300 rpm. and the conveyor travels at a rate on the order of about400 pockets per minute moving past the paddle wheel sweeping points.Thus, each pocket mouth is swept a number of times by the fingers ofeach paddle wheel. The provision of the second, or upper, paddle wheelinsures that a horizontally wedged prunewhich on relatively rareoccasions gets by the first wheel will be dislodged by the second wheel.When such a prune is dislodged by the second wheel it is driven into thefirst wheel and thereupon driven downhill by the latter.

Means are provided in association with the upwardly inclined fruitpickup reach of the conveyor to move the pocket-defining members 58 and60 a predetermined degree toward each other, e.g., from the wide openposition of FIG. 3 to the intermediate position of FIG. 4, to preventany second prune from getting into any one pocket with its major axis inan upright position, said means comprising a pair of cam rails 80mounted on adjustable support means 82 carried by the sideplates I2.Depending upon the average size of prune being handled, the cam rails 80will be adjusted either toward or away from sideplates l2-so that therollers 66 and 68 will be appropriately moved relative to the fruitholder end members 48 to control the size of the fruit pockets so thatthe pockets will be of size to readily receive in an endwise positionone of the prunes being handled, but so that the pockets will be toosmall to receive in endwise position another, or second, prune.

Further cam rails 84 supported by adjustable mounting means 86 carriedby the sideplates l2'are provided to variably control, in accordancewith the particular size of prune being handled, the degree of furtherclosure together of the pocketdefining members 58 and 60, as in FIG. 5,to lightly grip the prunes'during the time the prunes pass beneath thepaddle wheels 38 to prevent dislodgement of prunes from the-pockets Theapparatus of the invention is adapted for use in connection with thehandling for pitting of dates as well as prunes.

We claim:

1. Apparatus adapted to pick up elongated fruit such as prunes and thelike and convey them with their major axes disposed generally normal totheir path of movement, said apparatus comprising a conveyor having anupwardly inclined reach forming a movable bottom wall of a fruit-supplyhopper, said hopper having a pair of opposed sidewalls, a plurality offruit-receiving pockets formed in said conveyor, each pocket beingdefined by a fruit-support cup forming the lower portion of said pocket,by a pair of wall members forming an intermediate portion of saidpocket, and by a funnellike passageway extending through a platelikemember, said passageway forming the upper portion of said pocket, firstmeans connecting said wall members to said conveyor for movement of thesame toward and away from each other, second means adjustably mounted onthe sidewalls of said hopper adapted to actuate said first means andthereby selectively control the space between said wall members, wherebythe endwise admission of fruit into said pockets is limited to one fruitper pocket, a pair of opposed grooves or notches formed in saidplatelike member at the leading and trailing sides of each pocket, andscavenger means disposed to traverse each pair of opposed grooves ornotches and thereby remove from the upper portion of each pocket anyfruit residing therein with its major axis disposed generallytransversely of said upper portion.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, said scavenger means being comprised of apaddle wheel member, the paddle elements of which are provided withprotuberances adapted to pass through the pairs of opposed grooves, andmeans for rotating said paddle wheel member so that its lower portionmoves in a direction which is opposite the direction in which saidconveyor reach is moved.

3. Apparatus adapted to pick up elongated fruit such as prunes and thelike and convey them with their major axes disposed generally normal totheir path of movement, said apparatus comprising a conveyor, aplurality of fruit-receiving pockets formed in said conveyor, eachpocket being defined in part by a fruit support cup forming the lowerportion of said pocket and by a funnellike passageway extending througha platelike member and forming the upper portion of said pocket, a pairof opposed grooves or notches formed in said platelike member at theleading and trailing sides of each pocket, and scavenger means disposedto traverse each pair of opposed grooves or notches and thereby removefrom the upper portion of each pocket any fruit residing therein withits major axis disposed generally transversely of said upper portion.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, said scavenger means being comprised of apaddle wheel member, the paddle elements of which are provided withprotuberances adapted to pass through the pairs of opposed grooves ornotches, and means for rotating said paddle wheel member so that itslower portion moves in a direction which is opposite the direction inwhich said conveyor is moved.

1. Apparatus adapted to pick up elongated fruit such as prunes and thelike and convey them with their major axes disposed generally normal totheir path of movement, said apparatus comprising a conveyor having anupwardly inclined reach forming a movable bottom wall of a fruit-supplyhopper, said hopper having a pair of opposed sidewalls, a plurality offruit-receiving pockets formed in said conveyor, each pocket beingdefined by a fruit-support cup forming the lower portion of said pocket,by a pair of wall members forming an intermediate portion of saidpocket, and by a funnellike passageway extending through a platelikemember, said passageway forming the upper portion of said pocket, firstmeans connecting said wall members to said conveyor for movement of thesame toward and away from each other, second means adjustably mounted onthe sidewalls of said hopper adapted to actuate said first means andthereby selectively control the space between said wall members, wherebythe endwise admission of fruit into said pockets is limited to one fruitper pocket, a pair of opposed grooves or notches formed in saidplatelike member at the leading and trailing sides of each pocket, andscavenger means disposed to traverse each pair of opposed grooves ornotches and thereby remove from the upper portion of each pocket anyfruit residing therein with its major axis disposed generallytransversely of said upper portion.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, saidscavenger means being comprised of a paddle wheel member, the paddleelements of which are provided with protuberances adapted to passthrough the pairs of opposed grooves, and means for rotating said paddlewheel member so that its lower portion moves in a direction which isopposite the direction in which said conveyor reach is moved. 3.Apparatus adapted to pick up elongated fruit such as prunes and the likeand convey them with their major axes disposed generally normal to theirpath of movement, said apparatus comprising a conveyor, a plurality offruit-receiving pockets formed in said conveyor, each pocket beingdefined in part by a fruit support cup forming the lower portion of saidpocket and by a funnellike passageway extending through a platelikemember and forming the upper portion of said pocket, a pair of opposedgrooves or notches formed in said platelike member at the leading andtrailing sides of each pocket, and scavenger means disposed to traverseeach pair of opposed grooves or notches and thereby remove from theupper portion of each pocket any fruit residing therein with its majoraxis disposed generally transversely of said upper portion.
 4. Theapparatus of claim 3, said scavenger means being comprised of a paddlewheel member, the paddle elements of which are provided withprotuberances adapted to pass through the pairs of opposed grooves ornotches, and means for rotating said paddle wheel member so that itslower portion moves in a direction which is opposite the direction inwhich said conveyor is moved.